Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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FRIDAY. MAY 7. If 13 THE NEWBERRY SUN The Spectator The daily papers recently carried a statement that the Colored teach ers would soon sue the State to com pel Souh Carolina to give edual pay to White and Colored teachers. It is said that suit will be brought in the name of a Sumter County resi dent. Such a suit will be very interest ing. Whether brought against Sup erintendent Hope or the Comptroller General, it is a suit against the State. In other words. Colored teachers. Perhaps they will amend the pleadings so as to demand equal school houses, and equal buses. South Carolina is still a sovereign State. A suit against a State is serious. A State owes certain things to all citizens; and a citizen is one who lives here, whose home is here. One is a citizen whether he votes or not. What does the State owe to its own citizens or to citizens of the United States who may be within the borders of South Carolina? There is nothing in the Federal Constitution which obliges a State to operatfe schools. As a matter of fact, the State of South Carolina does not . operate the schools. The State Con- ■ stituion vests the “SUPERVISION” | of public instruction in the Stafee Superintendent of Education. He has no CONTROL. The Constitution seems to have contemplated a State School system, but it was not es tablished. Section 5 of Article 11 says that “THE GENERAL ASSEM BLY SHALL PROVIDE FOR A LIB ERAL SYSTEM OF FREE PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOR, ALL CHILDREN Between the ages of six AND TWENTY-ONE YEARS.” But the General Assembly has not done so; the Counties hav e taken action, usually through virtually telf-gov- erning school districts. Section 4 of Article 11 refers to the payment of salaries cf State and County offi cials who supervise instruction. When the Constitution was rati fied provision was made for a Consti tutional three mill tax, collectible and expandable in the Counties, and that for three years the Comptroller General might impose supplementary taxes. But all that is past. We now have no State tax at all for the schools. The state makes GRANTS for public instruction, but levies no tax for it. whatever. Certain liquor revenues are given to the schools, but NO SCHOOL TAX IS INVOLVED. The State as a Sov ereign, exercising its police power, imposes a tax, a privilege tax, for the sale of liquors, and then makes a GRANT of the revenue to the schools. The State, then, has no school tax. Can a citizen compel a Soverign to make equal grants? It is part of the Soverign’s prerogative to use his dis cretion in making grants. Do you think I’m going back too far into our jurisprudence ? Well, consider the Federal Government; could every State DEMAND a SanteeCooper or a T.V.A.? Could every State de mand even equal pay for those em ployed by the W.P.A. or the P.W.A. when ^pending GRANTS by the Sov ereign Nation? Has the Sovereign Nation contributed the FEDERAL GRANTS equally among the States? Did it spend the Federal GRANTS equally among the citizens on a per capita, man-to-man, basis? It. did not. The Federal Government has ex ercised a BROAD DISCRETION in making grants of the public money. The only school tax levied by the State today is a poll tax of one dol lar a year, payable by all men be- NOTICE ‘ > Shoe Shops of Newberry To Close Wednesday Afternoon The following Shoe Repairmen of the city have agreed to close their places of business on each Wednesday afternoon at ONE o’clock, beginning Wednesday, May 12th. Reagin’s Shoe Shop Dennis’ Shoe Shop Cromer’s Shoe Shop Hardware Stores To Close The following hardware stores wili close each Wed~ nesday afternoon at one O’clock during the summer months, May, June, July, <Sc August. R. M. Lominack, Hardware Frank Lominack, Hdwe. tween 21 and 60 years of age. This tax is retained by the Counties and distributed among the schools of the districts in which it is collected. A suit would require that the Gen e*al Assembly be disregarded and that some subordinate executive of ficial should assume the legislative powers of the General Assembly. Our'New Deal Colored people lost their bife chance when they didn’t sue to require the Federal Government to •pay th e same W.P.A. wages to Col ored “clients” in South Carolina that the New Deal paid to Italians in New York. The Constitution of the United States has nothing to say about Federal or State GRANTS. As we have seen, the Federal Government under the New Deal has exercised arbitrary power to make grants. In making a grant there is no violation of the solemn guarantee of equal orivileges and immunities as be tween citizens of the States. Cer tain rights, as to equality in the rate of taxation and of equality under th e law in the administration of formal or judicial justice, are assured. The Sovereign State may still make GRANTS as a SOVEREIGN GES TURE. Let us hope that Congress will have the wisdom to provide for the collection of income taxes at the time of receiving the||ncome. Most of us have paid seven cents a gallon on gasoline, one cent on bottled drinks, three cents on cigarettes, without feeling the burden. We have be come accustomed to the burden and carry it in our stride. Just so do we pay a ten per cent transportation charge, or is it fifteen? We feel the shock at first and then become ac customed to it and absorb it, as we learned to absorb shocks unconscious ly years ago in automobiles. Today, the Government is taking 5 per cent from us as a Victory Tax and we are going along without even bending under the weight. What does come like a crash, however, is to look the income taxes in the face in March. To pay along and along, as our people express it; is about like carrying five hundred pounds at one time or fifty pounds ten times. Most of us, probably, would rather pay from week to week, or month to mont.ii, in stead of having all the suffering af flict us in one mighty spasm. How ever, there are many incomes which run high only part of the year. Since most people don’t use the banks, they find it hard to save the money for ten months, or even three months. Our business people know this and collect for automobiles and furniture weekly or monthly. They have learned to collect installments as th e money comes in. In other words, as it comes in it will go out, so the in stallment collectors are on the spot. Many thousands of people are cover ed by insurance, with weekly pay ments, of small sums, who could never pay te entire premium by the year, or by the quarter, even. Gov ernments are always slow to adjust themselves, but the great develop ment of credit buying, with install ment payments, within the past twen ty-five years, should have suggested something to our legislators, both State and National. And the city fahers might likewise take a hint. Let us make taxation as nearly pain less as it may be made. How about a little time and a half for farmers who have already plant ed cotton twice and may have to make a third “try” at it? All that work, plowing, laying off, planting, fertilizing,—all that once and then again, the WORK any how. Are there no SOCIAL GAINS for farm ers? Let’s hear from the wise men who regard farmers as inflationists. Tell us, please, who pays the farmer for this double or triple effort? He is working hard to feed & clothe the world; and to make oil and linters for smokeless powder. Shall he do all this double and triple work with out compensation? Yes, sir; so he will. And he will even pay out good, hard-earned dollars to do it. But who will remember that? Nobody but the farmer himself. All the oth ers think of us as rolling in wealth, prime causes of inflation. Who, in calculating a farmer’s cost, ever con siders double planting, or the various pests which beset him ? Remember this, farmer, when they tell us next year about what steadfast friends they are to us. Everybody makes Congress toe the mark except the farmer. This Congress poured out words by the million, but when the President vetoed the Bankhead bill the Senate tip-toed out and left us standing here holding the bag (emp ty). NAVAL RATINGS OPENED Two-Score Classifications for Men 38 to 50 Ratings in more than two-score classifications now are open in the naval reserve for men between thirty-eight and fifty years old. Among ratings open are: Avia tion machinist’s mate, aviation metalsmith, aviation ordnanceman, aviation radioman, baker, boats wain’s mate, boilermaker, carpen ter’s mate, electrician’s mate, gun ner’s mate, machinist’s mate, metal smith, molder, motor machinist’s mate, officer’s cook, painter, pat ternmaker, pharmacist’s mate, quar termaster, radioman, radio tech nician, shipfitter, ship’s cook, sig nalman, water tender and yeoman. McCrackin Given Distinguished Service Cross Lieutenant McCrackin Is Now U. S. From Wounds In Camp Edwards, Mass., Apr. 30— First Lieutenant Edward McCrackin of Newberry, S. C., was awarded the Distingusihed Service cross today for rescuing a sergeant and two othei soldiers from drowning while under aircraft fire during landing opera tions near Medhia Plage, French Morocco, last November. The medal was pinned on Mc- Crackin’s blouse by Brig.-Gen. Dan iel Noce, “father” and commanding general of the engineer amphibian command.. Lieutenant McCrackin, who is re covering from bullet wounds, was with one of the first engineer am phibian units to invade North Af rica last fall. The citation told how on last November 8, Lieutenant McCrackin rescued from drowning “one of his sergeants and two unidentified men.” “Speeding toward the shore in a heavy surf,” the citation said, “the landing craft, filed with soldiers, struck a sandbar just as it was be ing attacked by enemy aircraft.” As the coxswain dropped the ramp, the landing boat became partially filled with water, it added, and the men made for shore but the heavy surf drove some of them back. “As the sergeant was struggling in the heavy surf,’’ the citation con tinued, “Lieutenant McCrackin res cued him and returned to the boat and assisted in perfor-aing artificial respiration. “Lieutenant McCrackin appeared to be wounded from enemy aircraft fir e but did not permit the men to examine him. While the other men in the front continued to administer artificial respiration to the sergeant. Lieutenant McCrackin rescued an un identified soldier.” The citation told how the lieu tenant was wounded in the thigh by plane strafing and that after the wound was dressed he fired on the enemy aircraft with a machine gun, aided by a soldier. Despite his wound, McCrackin assisted in res cuing another unidentified man be fore being placed in another boat, exhausted. “His coolness and courage under fire,” the citation concluded, “were a profound inspiration to the mem bers of his unit and reflect high credit upon him and his unit.” Lieutenant McCrackin is a son of Mr. and Mrs. Thad McCrackin cf this city. He is a graduate of the Citadel. HARDWOOD LUMBER CONCERN HAS OFFICE HERE Announcement has been made of the opening of the office of C. H. Whitener Hardwood company in the Clarkson building. C. H. Whitener, formerly of the city but for the past five years with Lockwood aircraft at Burbank, California, will act as man ager of the new concern. Mr. Whitt • ner said he was. pleased to again be | EVERYBODY LIKED “COPE” Southwest Pacific Mrs. O. O. Copeland 2004 Main St. Newberry, S. C. U. S. A. Dear Mrs. Copeland: I guess you’ll be surprised to hear from me, but here goes any way. I wrote you to get Cope’s address. You see, Cope and I have been together ever since we’ve been ip the Marines, and I went to the hospital—had my appendix removed—while I was in the hospital Cope was transferred to another outfit. Sure miss him, too. Everybody that knew Cope liked him, and a lot knew him. He was the first of the whole bunch that came through “boot camp” together to get a promotion. If you will please send me his address I sure will appreciate it. When you write him again—and Mrs. Copeland, write him real often because mail means everything in the world to us over here—please send my address to him, will you? Well, have to go now, and thanks again. A* ever, Jimmy Riddell. located at Newberry. All lumber t handled by the company will go to^ the navy department. SIGNS Mother: “What makes you think your 1 young man has matrimonial in tentions?” Daughter: “Well, when we were looking at Easter hats he tried to convince me I looked better in a S2.98 model rather than one that cost $15. ! € Grocers of City To Close Wednesday Afternoons The undersigned GROCERY STORES will close each Wednesday afternoon at 1 o’clock during the months of May, June, July and August We urge our customers to do their shopping early Wednesday so that we can continue to serve you with as little inconvenience as possible. We will greatly appreciate the co operation of the housewives of the city. The Carryteria^W. O. Wilson The Fruit Store Dixie-Home Stores Paysinger’s Super Market Devore’s Market, Dawkins’ Grocery J. L. Long’s Grocery C. E. Hutchison and Snelgrove’s Market The Square Grocery Layton Brothers Hamm and Morris C. A. Shealy Jas. F. Long .